Robert Burns Statue; Bernard Street / Constitution Street, Leith (4) - East side - One of four bronze plaques on each face of plinth. (Two added in 1901)

Erected by Leith Burns Club in 1898, unveiled on October 15th by Mr. RC Munro Ferguson, MP. At the ceremony it was offered to the Lord Provost of Leith who accepted it on behalf of the burgh. The sculptor was D.W. Stevenson RSA, and was cast at the foundry of J.W. Singer and Sons.
Bronze plaques : South 'The priest like father reads the sacred page. From scenes like those old Scotia's grandeur springs, that makes her loved at home, revered abroad'. East 'When Vulcan gies his bellows breath an' plowmen gather wi' their graith'. West 'In order on the clean hearth staine, the luggies three are ranged,' and 'Hallowe'een'. North 'I there wi' something did foregather that pat me in an eerie swither'. Incised in stone (S) 'BURNS 1759-1796','Erected under the auspices of Leith Burns Club, 1898.'; (E) D.W. Stevenson RSA Sc'; (W) Presented by William Tulloch'; (N) ' Presented by Robert Meikle'.
The text on the East side plaque is from the poem 'Scotch Drink' written in the winter of 1785-86. 'When Vulcan gies his bellows breath an' plowmen gather wi' their graith'. Incised in stone is ' D.W. Stevenson RSA Sc' (Sculptor).